


Huntress Awakens

by jeien



Category: Sound Horizon
Genre: Alternate Universe, Mentions of Rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4599213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lafrenze sits up and sees the shade of a woman with a solemn smile floating close to her. </p><p>(Based off the <a href="http://queenofween.tumblr.com/tagged/lafrenzeRPG%3A-the-tag/">Lafrenze RPG AU</a> by queenofween/beboldbebold on Tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Huntress Awakens

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday fic for Jes! Based off her awesome Lafrenze RPG, which I've been wanting to write for for a long time. 
> 
> Also, rather than use the term "spirit" for Eurydice, I chose to use the term "shade," which was more common in translations of Greek epics. 
> 
> Anyway, happy birthday, Jes!

She didn’t know how long she had laid amongst the field of spider lilies—time passes strangely in Hades, after all; it’s the sun that the past, present, and future all revolve around and connect back to simultaneously—but Lafrenze assumes it has been enough time for her curse to have taken effect. Nevertheless, she croaks out that cruel melody even while knowing that her throat is thick and raw from the bitterness of her revenge and that her cry had damned Orpheus to a life without his beloved for as long as he lived. She only stills her song when she hears a softer, kinder voice piped up beside her:

“It’s a lovely song.”

Lafrenze sits up and sees the shade of a woman with a solemn smile floating close to her. Pursing her lips, she averts her gaze from the woman and says, “It’s not meant to be lovely. It’s supposed to be a curse for someone.”

“I know,” the woman replies. “For Orpheus and I.”

“You—!” She want to lash out at this woman—the one Orpheus tricked her, raped her, left her for—and she feels the venom rumbling from deep within her stomach run up to her throat. But her mouth does not spit that poison out at the woman. The woman understands and sits beside Lafrenze.

“I will not apologize on behalf of Orpheus and I will not defend his actions,” the woman says. “He dealt a grave blow to you that no woman should suffer from. Instead, I will apologize for myself because I know that those things were done to you in order to free me from this place.”

She never expected any apology. Lafrenze doesn’t know whether she wants to accept it or not. The woman seems to understand that as well because all she does is nod her head at Lafrenze’s silence and says, “You are hurt and tired, my good lady. Please rest.”

Lafrenze lies back down and sleeps without another word.

In her dreams, she sees Crimson Old Rose pointing a wrinkled, crooked finger at her— _I warned you, child, but even in death you do not honor my words of caution_ —before rapidly morphing into someone much younger than Lafrenze had ever known her to be. (She remembers, faintly, a secret Crimson Old Rose had once divulged to her: that she had been known by another name in her youth, Alte Rose.) Lafrenze hears her tongue click and red-rouged lips twist in disgust.

“Just like your mother,” Alte Rose says. “Never listened and made herself ripe for the taking.”

“What do you want from me?” Lafrenze asks.

“Since you went ahead and let your virginity be taken, the gates of Hades are wide open. As its gatekeeper, you still have the task of keeping the spirits of the dead at bay, so it’s up to you to fix the mess you’ve started. Go to the hovel we lived in and get the red book I never let you touch. Make sure you don’t make a bigger disaster than you already have.”

Alte Rose burst into a shower of rose petals that withered as they fell to the ground. Lafrenze wakes up and finds the woman shade still by her side.

“You’re awake,” the woman says. After another moment, she adds, “Do you need to go somewhere?”

“Back to my home,” Lafrenze replies—and she realizes this is the first time she’s ever spoken to the woman. Her fury had been reduced to mere embers now and as she gets up, she finds herself saying to the woman, “You can come if you want.”

“If my lady will allow it,” the woman says, already floating to follow closely behind. They both know that the woman is forgiven, although Lafrenze never said it aloud. “My name is Eurydice. Pardon me for not introducing myself earlier. It would have been most inappropriate.”

“It’s fine.”

They both walk towards the hovel Lafrenze calls home. Once they arrive, Lafrenze makes a beeline for the desk where Crimson Old Rose’s tomes and witchcraft implements lay. She breaks the rusted lock on one of the lower cabinets and pulls out a red tome covered with dust. It’s only then that she turns to look at Eurydice and offer her name:

“I’m Lafrenze, gatekeeper of Hades. I’m going to banish the souls of the dead that escaped the gate. Wanna help?”


End file.
